Friday, March 27, 2009

The Womb is a Powerful Weapon

I was listening to NPR the other morning during my blissful commute on 75S into downtown, when I heard a most fascinating piece of journalism gold. Normally, Morning Edition is generally full of pleasant stories regarding Palestinian/Israeli conflict on the Gaza Strip or how much the Dow has dropped in the last 38 seconds. However, this morning something a bit more disturbing was reported regarding a relatively new movement (at least to the mainstream) of evangelical Christians called "The Quiverfull Movement." Now, like most Fundamental Christian movements, it's way over the top in interpretating the verses of the Bible. These people base their lives on the following Bible verse:

"Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them." -Psalm 127

That's all fine and good. However, they take this a step further and indoctrinate the following lifestyle:

"Quiverfull women accept as many children as God gives them as a demonstration of their radical faith and obedience as well as a means to advance his kingdom: winning the country for Christ by having more children than their adversaries. This self-proclaimed “patriarchy” movement, which likely numbers in the tens of thousands but which is growing exponentially, bases its arguments on Psalm 127: “Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They shall not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.” Quiverfull women commonly give birth to families of eight, 10 and 12 children, or more. "

Nancy Campbell, a leader of this movement (which I think is an oxymoron in this realm) and author of Be Fruitful and Multiply, has a remarkable point of view regarding the reason these women consider it their sacred duty to have so many children:

"The womb is such a powerful weapon; it's a weapon against the enemy. We look across the Islamic world and we see that they are outnumbering us in their family size, and they are in many places and many countries taking over those nations, without a jihad, just by multiplication."

Freaking seriously? I'm pretty sure God would not want you using your uterus as a weapon of warfare in His name. I'm going to go ahead and bet that He gave you that useful piece of equipment for reproduction, not to take over the world, but to keep the human race going indefinitely. I'm just sayin, I'd rather use my goodies for good rather than evil. It's a personal choice. Not a good place for violence.

The Duggar family, based in Tontitown, Arkansas (yes, I'm from Arkansas...ha. ha.), is a perfect example of this movement. What kind of a woman wants to be pregnant 95% of the time from 1985-present? Seriously.

An excerpt from an article by author Kathryn Joyce, who also wrote Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement, said:

"In 1985, homeschooling leader Mary Pride wrote a foundational text for Quiverfull, "The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality." The book argued that family planning is a slippery slope, creating a “contraceptive mentality” that leads to abortion, and that feminism is incompatible with Christianity. As an antidote, Pride told Christians to reject women's liberation in exchange for the principles of submissive wifehood and prolific stay-at-home motherhood. The core ideology was a direct contradiction of Roe v. Wade: Women's bodies and lives did not belong to them, but to God and his plans for Christian revival."

How can any woman that has seen the struggles and oppressions past generations of women have fought, and died for, have this point of view? Does Mary Pride have the right to vote? Yes. Does she have the right to own land? Yes, I believe she does. Does she have the right to publish a book in her own name? Yep. Can she do basically anything she wants without having a husband? Absolutely. With so many rights and liberties afforded her that took hundreds years to achieve, how can any woman backslide into such an outdated and tyrannical belief? It's nonsensical and pisses me off. See you at Planned Parenthood.


2 comments:

Jason Harx said...

On a related note, using your womb as a weapon is very metal.

Azura said...

Haha...somehow I knew you'd have this point of view.